8 



.some ham, as the Saxon Would say, and there clears away some clean, gravelly 

 place where her eggs may be deposited, and this home of her young she defends 

 sedulously and bravely. But the nest of the bird, and the spawning ground of 

 the lish are the same now that they were in ages past, no better, no worse. Not 

 so is it or should it be with the homes of men. We have seen that they have 

 improved with the increasing civilization of the world, and we desire to give 

 this improvement an onward impulse. 



If home is a little heaven on earth, it is a subject worthy of much thought 

 and study, and the abode of the family should not. be located in some low, damp 

 place, unprotected and unadorned by trees, with a slovenly appearance both 

 indoors and out. We do not associate the idea of heaven with a damp, malarial 

 atmosphere, nor with darkness, mud and filth. 



Our first suggestion, then, for the improvement of farmers' homes is, that 

 more thought be bestowed upon the site. Convenience for work and shelter 

 from cold winds would seem to be the only considerations with some farmers 

 in choosing a site for their home. It may be very convenient, so far as work 

 is concerned, to be located near the centre of the farm, and to be able to step 

 from the front door into the street and from the back door into the barn-yard, 

 but such is not a site for the ham. It is not the retired, quiet, comfortable 

 place that we associate with home. Work is man's heritage and blessing, but 

 God never designed this world to be merely one great work house. Refinement 

 and beauty are as manifestly the design of the Creator, as is utility, and he who 

 would build aright, must imitate the great Architect, and combine considerations 

 of health and comfort with those of labor and profit. The house should be lo- 

 cated not only at a suitable distance from the dust and noise of the highway, 

 but also from the filth and effluvia of the barn and pig pen. The house is not 

 made for the barn, but the barn for the house, and the wind should circulate 

 freely and largely between the two. We have known a corner of a barn fin- 

 ished off for the residence of the farmer, but nothing short of necessity should 

 compel a man to shelter his family under the same roof with his dumb beasts. 

 It has been said that a farmer can be known by his barn. There is truth in 

 this, but whoever puts the barn first and house second, has more farmer than 

 man about him, and will probably plan and labor more persistently for the 

 thrift of his stock than the comfort of his household. A green, well-shaved 

 lawn in front of the farm house, where the children can romp and play, and the 

 wife can cultivate a few flowers, is one of the rights on which every woman 

 should insist. 



Another suggestion as to the site of the farm house is, that it should be on 

 some elevation, above the fogs and miasms of the valley, and commanding a 

 pleasant if not extensive lookout. We have seen so many prairie farm houses 

 xpiatted in the mud that we have learned to prize the high and dry sites which 

 are scattered so profusely through New England, and we have often wondered 

 that, with such a site on almost every farm, so many houses are built in low, 

 damp, unhealthy situations. The reason probably is, that the owners have the 

 impression thai the elevated site must be bleak and cold. The winds may in- 



